The Sylveon Canticles
by Elliot Pole
Summary: In visiting the Regigo Region, Sakura meets a trainer with an Eevee evolution she's enver seen before...Sylveon. They have a battle and she learns of Sylveon's type.


**The Sylveon Canticles**

Sakura had come to the Regigo Region with her Espeon. She was strolling down the street in Foxcora Town when she saw a pink Pokemon that stopped her precious dear in its movements. They were in a front of a building with steps leading up to it.

"What is it, Espeon?"

Sakura took a closer look at the pink Pokemon. "Are you another Eevee evolution?"

"It is," said a boy, coming down a set of steps. "It's called Sylveon."

"What type is it?"

"Fairy, of course."

"I've never heard of that type. And there are Clefairy in my home region."

"Oh, Professor Cenogot is doing research right now that will prove Clefairy also belong to the Fairy-type."

"I wouldn't mind battling a Fairy-type, seeing as I've never encountered one before."

"I don't use her against Psychic Pokemon," the boy said. Except Minevolt, and I'm sure you don't have that Pokemon."

"I don't know what it is."

"It's a legendary Pokemon of Regigo. They say that only the one it belongs with can tame it. Of course, no one living has seen it, though the Dansplank Gang is looking for it."

"I still want to battle you. Though."

"Okay, but not with Espeon. I am against Eevolutions fighting each other."

"That's a strange thing to object to."

"It just seems wrong, somehow. Other Pokemon don't have to worry about fighting a different evolution of the same tree. That is, most Pokemon doing so would be fighting something that occurs linearly in its evolution cycle. Gloom versus Vileplume, Klang versus Klinklang. "

"There are other side evolutions. Bellossom is another alternate way Gloom can evolve."

"Yes, but I believe that only Gloom who were meant to become Vileplume do so, and only Gloom whose destiny it is to be Bellossom draw near a Sun Stone and permit that to happen."

"What about Gloom who are still Gloom?"

"They're perpetually in the doldrums."

"That's rather gloomy."

"Yeah…anyway, Sylveon and I must get going. A Pecha Berry collector is meeting in the next town, and I want to see if I can trade him for anything useful."

"But our battle…"

"Oh, all right. I can battle one Pokemon. But not Espeon."

"That's fine," Sakura said, twirling a Pokeball on her finger and kissing it. She tossed it, and out emerged Shedinja.

"A Bug/Ghost type doesn't really present much of a battle for Sylveon."

"We'll see."

"Well, if you're ready, I suppose we should get started."

"I'm ready."

"All right, then. Sylveon, Stellar Flare!"

The pink Pokemon crooned at the sky. Stars came erupting down on Shedinja. But when all the debirs was apparent on the ground, it was clear that Shedinja wasn't fazed.

"What the…?"

"Shedinja has Wonder Guard," Sakura said. "It's ability makes it where only moves that are Super Effective will work on it."

"So that's Ghost, Dark Flying…"

"Dark doesn't work on Shedinja, silly. Ghost might be weak against it, but Bug has a resistance. Which makes it do nil."

"That's all right," the boy said. "Fairy-types can't learn Dark moves."

"Shedinja, Shadow Sneak!"

The Bug Pokemon slipped into the ground and moved toward Sylveon with utmost Speed.

"Sylveon, Agility!"

The pink Pokemon ran at such a speed that when the bug Pokemone merged from its shadowy cover, Sylveon was thirty feet away.

"Aerial Ace would be handy about now," the boy muttered.

"Why don't you use it?"

"It's a TM move. But I traded the technical machine that teaches it to a Pokemon for Hovercrest."

"What's Hovercrest?"

"It's another Fairy-type move, which would obviously be useless in this battle."

"Come on, try to attack."

"There's nothing that can be done," the boy said, hanging his head. "Unless…"

He pondered for a moment, before nodding. "Sylveon, Wunderkind!"

The pink Pokemon looked at the boy with a revolted expression on her face. Then she sidled up thot he bug Pokemon, touching it on its compound eye with its nose. It became a shade of lavender.

"Yikes," Sakura said. "It looks like the transformation a ditto that this girl I once knew had. It could transform into a perfect replica of the Pokemon it was facing, only it was the same color as Ditto, making it obvious which one was Ditto."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain what your move did."

"It does what Soak does, except it turns Pokemon to Fairy type rather than Water."

"So Shedinja is Fairy-type now?"

"No," the boy said, grinning. "My Sylveon knows that when I ask her to use Wunderkind, she is also to use Silver Stream. And that means that your Shedinja is little more than a statue now."

"Statue? What do you mean?"

"Order it to make a move."

"Shedinja, use Bug Buzz!"

The ghost Pokemon remained where it was, its halo immovable.

"Don't just sit there, Shedinja!"

"I'm afraid that it must," the boy said. "That's what Silver Stream does, when applied to a Fairy-type. Stronger than paralysis, I must say."

"How can you do something so powerful?"

"To win a battle, of course."

"Well, you haven't won yet."

"The only way Shedinja can come out of its state is if it is damaged by a Physical move."

"Well, use a Physical move on it, then."

"Sylveon, Poison Flame."

Purple fire erupted from the pink Pokemon's mouth, engulfing Shedinja. The latter fell prone on the ground.

"Was that a Fire-type move?"

"Poison."

"But neither Bug nor Ghost are weak against Poison…"

"Shedinja wasn't either of those types at the moment of impact. It was Fairy, due to Wunderkind."

"Yeah, that's right."

"I'd better take Sylveon to the Pokemon Center now," the boy said, lifting his Pokemon in his arms. She appeared to be zapped of energy.

"But she won the battle.."

"The cost of using Wunderkind and Silver Stream is a discharge of energy that renders Sylveon only viable for using one more move before she collapses. She doesn't like it when I ask her to use that combo, because it enervates her so much."

"I see."

"And now I must go."

"May I pat her head?"

"You may."

Sakura ran her hand along Sylveon's crest, and the Pokemon looked up at her affectionately.

"She likes you," the boy said.

"It's always nice to meet a new Eevolution I've never known the existence of before."

"Eevee's evolutions are some of the greatest Pokemon in existence."

"I can concur with that," Sakura said. She looked at her Espeon, who was watching their exchange.

"See you around," the boy said.

"Yeah, see ya."

She watched him walk away, Sylveon cradled in her arms. She wondered what other new Pokemon she'd encounter in the Regigo Region. But as her first Pokemon was the Eevee that was now an Espeon, she was certain that she'd find no Pokemon more intriguing in Regigo than Sylveon.


End file.
